1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and a system for transporting natural gas between a gas well and a transmission pipeline, or other end user facility. More particularly, it relates to such a method and system particularly adapted to the economies involved with remotely located or low producing wells, where the cost of constructing a conventional feeder pipeline from the well head directly to a pipeline terminal or end point purchaser is excessive.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The distribution and use of natural gas for energy purposes is very widespread. The conventional manner for handling the natural gas is to build a feeder pipeline directly to the well head, which is then used to collect the gas and transport it to a terminal on a major transmission pipeline utilized to transport large volumes of natural gas over long distances to remote users. While this system has proven successful over the years in most instances, there are some situations where the economic costs involved are so excessive as to make use of natural gas from small reservoirs and certain wells impractical. This is especially true of low producing wells, and those wells that are isolated or located in remote places.
Over the time when an abundance of natural gas wells located in easily accessible locations existed to meet the needs for this form of energy, the ignoring of the output of natural gas from small reservoirs, and from low producing and poorly located wells, was of no great moment. But in this time of energy shortage, particularly the shortage of natural gas available to the major gas transmission pipeline systems, there is now a need for an economically feasible means for making use of the natural gas available from such wells.
Industry has previously developed special equipment for the commercial handling of what are called specialty gases, such as oxygen, acetylene, and in some instances, energy fuels. The key element in such equipment is an over-the-road motor vehicle carrying one or more pressure vessels, designed to transport the specialty gas safely under normal highway conditions. Among such vehicles for transporting specialty gases will be found semi-trailers for transporting specialty gases will be found semi-trailers including a plurality of cylindrical high pressure vessels, and capable of transporting perhaps 200,000 cubic feet of gas under high compression.
It has also been demonstrated that natural gas can be stored in refrigerated pressure vessels on board a ship, under relatively low pressures and at low temperatures, for transporting it over long distances across a body of water. Such a method for the storage and transportation of natural gas is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,232,725, but has a disadvantage for large scale use on the land because of the need to keep the pressure vessels under refrigeration. The method of the patent requires refrigeration equipment and insulation to hold the compressed natural gas at sub-freezing temperatures, and such equipment and insulation occupies valuable space and adds weight in a land vehicle with the result that hauling capacity can be reduced and transportation costs increased to the point where economical transport of the natural gas cannot be accomplished.
The present invention is intended to solve the need for economically transporting natural gas from remote small reservoirs and low yield wells to a pipeline terminal, or other end user facility. It is particularly designed for economically transporting the natural gas over-the-road, and in this embodiment makes use of the general type of transport motor vehicles that have been developed for handling specialty gases, suitably modified to carry out the method of the invention. At the same time, the need for insulation and refrigeration of the cylindrical high pressure vessels, as required in U.S. Pat. No. 3,232,725, is eliminated, thereby greatly enhancing the economics of transporting the natural gas over-the-road.
While the present invention is particularly useful for transporting natural gas over-the-road, it can also be adapted for use with high pressure vessels transported by other means, such as by barge, rail or airplane. When these transport vehicles are employed, the elimination of the need for refrigeration equipment allows carrying a significantly heavier payload than in the past. Moreover, the unique loading and off-loading method and system of the invention is of equal value, regardless of the kind of transport vehicle utilized for the high pressure vessels.